Outline

Objective

To analyze the accuracy of high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) using 3 D-FIESTA (n=8) and double-dose contrast enhanced 3 D-FSPGR sequences for the detection of neurovascular compression (NVC) in patients with trigeminal neuralgia.

Methods

The preoperative MRI images of 21 consecutive patients were matched to one neuroradiologist (KSh), who was blinded to the side of symptomatology. The images and postprocessing multiplanar reconstructions were compared with the operative findings.

Results

In 11 patients (52,4%) HR-MRI demonstrated present neurovascular compression in accordance with the intraoperative findings. One HR-MRI predicted bilateral compression and one patient had no compression either on MRI or intraoperatively.

Conclusions

High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging using 3 D-FIESTA and double-dose contrast enhanced 3 D-FSPGR sequences is not a reliable tool to detect neurovascular compression in a single-blinded setting. The decision to perform microsvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia should still be made on clinical considerations and not on the basis of HR-MRIs.